1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system and apparatus for generating electrical power. More specifically, this invention is directed to a turbine generator installed inside a pipe. The in-pipe turbine generator produces power from any moving fluid. It features an adjustable runner blade pitch, has an integrated control system, is capable of producing AC or DC output voltage and the runner speed is variable and not dependent on local power frequency.
The in-pipe turbine is suitable for a wide variety of flows and pressures and can be produced in a family of ANSI standard pipe sizes. Common ANSI standard pipe sizes include schedule 40 and schedule 80 size pipe. Typical locations for installation of the in-pipe turbine generator may include, but is not limited to: water treatment facilities; petroleum, pharmaceutical and other chemical processing facilities; manufacturing facilities; unloading fluid from ships, trucks, and trains; and any location where fluids are moved from one storage device to another. The in-pipe turbine generator can be fabricated from materials suitable for use with a variety of fluids including stainless steel, carbon steel, plastics and composites.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
For large scaled industrial applications there are conventional turbine installations comprising turbines installed in a duct. U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,063 discloses one such turbine. The runner and the generator constitute a central section which is enclosed in a housing that is anchored in the duct by means of radial arms, the interior of which can be accessed by walking inside it for assembling and repair work. U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,063 also discloses that one of the radial arms is hollow and serves as an access shaft. This design has proven to be satisfactory in large turbine installations comprising a turbine installed in a duct; however, access to the central section becomes increasingly difficult as the size of the machine is decreased. For this reason, the conventional design of a turbine installed in a duct is not suitable for medium and small size installations.
This device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,063 provides a turbine installation that includes a turbine installed in a duct. This is accomplished by using interconnecting passages defined by two pipelines; each which contain multiple straight pipe sections. The turbine runner blades are housed in another chamber which converges with the carrying tubes to form a junction at the runner blade chamber. The driving water is fed to the runner blade chamber in two spaced apart pipelines.
Other prior art discloses additional types of turbine generators. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,904 discloses a small scale hydroelectric generator which utilizes a siphon-type method of intake and contains a remotely located hydraulic generator and hydraulic motor and pump. U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,637 discloses a high-speed turbo generator used in a shaft or conduit. U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,895 discloses a hydroelectric power station wherein the turbine runner is housed in a draft tube at the base of the power station dam and the draft tube is connected to a shaft. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,998,724 discloses a subsea level method of electrical power output. A turbine is operatively connected to the flow line submerged below sea level. The turbine being rotatable by fluid flowing through the flow line and in turn generating electrical output.
None of these prior art disclosures provide a small compact in-pipe turbine generator that can be run inside a single flow passage. It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome this limitation in the prior art and to provide a small compact in-pipe turbine generator that can be run inside a single flow passage.